Fast Sale Would Help Patriots Cash In

Nfl: A Closer Look

November 21, 1993|By TERRY PRICE; Courant Staff Writer Correction: Broncos quarterback John Elway was the NFL leader in touchdown passes with 17 before Sunday. A story on age E4 Sunday incorrectly reported the 49ers' Steve oung was the leader. Elway and Young are now tied for the lead with 18.

How good the Patriots will be next season will, to a degree, be determined by how fast the team is sold.

If the sale is completed quickly, the Patriots will have a better chance of speeding up coach Bill Parcells' tedious process of rebuilding.

Conversely, if the sale drags on several months, the Patriots probably will not move ahead as rapidly as Parcells would like.

The ideal situation would be for new Patriots ownership to be in place by Feb. 1, the date teams can begin to negotiate with free agents.

"The future of this franchise depends very greatly on some of the things that are going to transpire very shortly," Parcells said.

"We should be able to be very competitive and maybe get a reasonably big player in the free agent market this one time, this winter, provided we get everything stabilized in the organization to allow us to do that."

Patriots owner James B. Orthwein is accepting bids through Goldman Sachs brokerage firm in New York, and a sale could take place before the end of the year. However, Orthwein could take the team off the market and move it to St. Louis if that city is not granted an expansion team Nov. 30.

The Patriots are expected to be well under a projected salary cap, if one is implemented, as expected, in 1994. Parcells termed the advent of free agency and a salary cap, "a new era in professional football."

The availability of free agents could be widespread if a salary cap is adopted (it will kick in if 67 percent of revenue is going to players' salaries, according to the new players' contract with the league).

"It could be good if we had the latitude to use money that's available to us under the cap," Parcells said.

"Teams are going to change on a yearly basis. You're going to see teams try to maintain control of the best players they have at certain positions. Those players will be well paid. Then there will be some good players available to other people. It's going to be impossible to maintain the status quo."

The Patriots signed nine free agents for this season, spending $4.7 million in salaries and bonuses.

Parcells said it would be prudent for prospective buyers to determine how heavily the Patriots would like to invest in free agents.

"You would think anyone in their right mind would take a look at the operating expenses of the team and what projected expenses were going to be," Parcells said.

Parcells would not comment on whether he has talked with parties interested in purchasing the Patriots, but left the impression he had been contacted.

Parcells said it is essential the Patriots take advantage of the, "window of opportunity" free agency may present. If the team is not sold by Feb. 1, Parcells may have some financial constraints on his attempts to sign free agents.

"That would not be in the best interest of the franchise," he said.

Other Shula struggling Things are coming apart in Cincinnati. The Bengals are 0-9, and coach David Shula was criticized by one his players after a 38-3 loss to Houston last week.

After the game, Shula was quoted as saying: "I know that we're the worst team in Bengal history, and we certainly deserve it at this time."

When Shula's comment was relayed to the players, Bengals running back Harold Green, who had been benched against the Oilers, had an angry response.

"I guess Dave was quoted after the game about this being the worst team in Bengals history. That may be touching closer to home to him being the worst coach in Bengals history. What goes around comes around."

Shula (5-20 career record) wouldn't say much about the exchange in a conference call with reporters who cover the Jets. The Bengals play the Jets today in East Rutherford, N.J.

"I don't take back anything I said," Shula said. "It's something we discussed in meetings."

Shula, in his second year as Bengals coach, said the losing streak, "hasn't shaken my confidence."

Meanwhile, quarterback Boomer Esiason, who was traded by the Bengals to the Jets last spring, said his successor, David Klingler, had been instructed by someone in the Cincinnati organization not to talk to Esiason after Klingler was named to start the final four games of the 1992 season.

Esiason said he told Klinger: "Whoever said that needs his head examined."

Woodson speaks his mind Steelers cornerback Rod Woodson also wonders what's going on in Cincinnati.. According to two Steelers, Woodson was upset over a remark Cincinnati wide receiver Carl Pickens made two weeks ago, when the Steelers beat the Bengals, 24-16.

The two Steelers say they heard Pickens shout "jungle fever" at

Woodson. That term for interracial romance was especially hurtful for Woodson, the son of a white mother and black father. Woodson is married to a white woman.

Woodson let his feelings be known after the game when he approached Pickens and then told Shula he had better get a handle on the situation.